The history of this cemetery has its roots in the immigrant, David
Demarest Sr. David Demarest Sr.,
being a French Huguenot, had an ambition to form a French Colony and was
eventually able to purchase
about 2000 acres of land, a tract approximately two miles wide and six
miles long, lying between the
Hackensack and Hudson Rivers, called the French Patent. The land was
granted with the understanding
that he was to settle 45 families on the site. He failed to secure this
number, but he brought with him
several groups, including the families of Daniel DuVoor, Jean Durie,
Jacques Laroe, Andries Tiebout and
Nicholas deVaux.

David Demarest Sr. had plans to build a French church nearer to his home.
(At first he and his family
were attending the Bergen Reformed Dutch Church - now Jersey City.) The
first meeting in the newly
erected French church building was in 1682 and this church was known as
the French Church of
Kinderkamack. It was built on land belonging to the Demarest family
(sometimes written DesMarets,
DeMaree), directly to the east of their dwelling, adjoining the little
French Cemetery which remains
today. Traces of the church foundation were visible in the early 1900s.
This is where David Demarest Sr.
is believed to be buried, along with his family.

Services were held here until 1696, conducted by Reverend Pierre Daille,
a minister at the French
Church of New York. He left the New York parish in 1696 and thereafter
the church declined. The
French Church members joined with the Hackensack Reformed Dutch Church in
1696.

One side note. At the time the land was granted to the Demarest family,
the Governor probably was
aware that the grant already was covered, at least in part, by a prior
patent given to John Berry. The
Demarests did not patent their land immediately and later were so
harrassed by other claims that they
were obliged to purchase their land at least four times! After the death
of David Sr., the grant was
withdrawn from his heirs and a smaller tract was given them, although the
final grant was of large
proportions.

History Source: The Demarest Family Genealogy compiled under the auspices
of the Demarest Family
Association in 1964, Hackensack, New Jersey, Voorhis D. Demarest,
President at the time.